Introduction: “O wind, tell the demons and fairies” – A call for reconciliation in northern India

In the year 1287, in Muslim-controlled northern India, the nobleman Bughra¯ Kha¯n Mah.mu¯d (d. 1291) took up arms against his son, the new sultan of Delhi, Kayquba¯d (d. 1289). Perturbed that his youthful, pleasure-loving offspring was squandering his time in drinking and other dissolute pursuits, Bughra¯ Kha¯n brought his army westward from Bengal, the province over which he had recently declared himself sultan, and struck camp at Awadh on the banks of the river Sarju¯, a tributary of the Ganges. In response, Kayquba¯d and his army moved eastward from Delhi to position themselves on the opposite side of the river, within view of the sultan’s father’s camp.1